BBC World is gearing up to build a higher profile in the region,
with an eye on growing international advertising opportunities.
"Asia business is very vibrant and dynamic, and we have many
opportunities to build the advertising revenue further," said BBC World
director of airtime sales Jonathan Howlett.
After lying low during the past few years, the BBC is substantially
increasing its regional marketing activities in a bid to strengthen the
six- year old network's proposition and value.
"It's not enough just to have the product (news channel), but we also
need to have marketing and branding activities to support (the brand) if
you have competitors like CNN," noted Mr Howlett.
The channel will be more actively participating in trade marketing
activities, offering more below-the-line and airtime advertising
opportunities to marketers.
In addition to the Hong Kong and Singapore offices, the BBC has
currently set up sales representation in Thailand and Korea and a Tokyo
office as well.
Reaching 16.2 million homes in 14 countries across Asia and the Middle
East, the BBC's key target audiences are affluent and business decision
makers in the region.
China and the US are the two countries where the BBC has yet to
penetrate in a systematic manner, but plans to launch a full channel
service in the US is underway.
In Taiwan, the BBC has signed a five-year distribution deal with Mega
Media Broadcasting Network on both the cable and DTH platform, with a
Chinese subtitle service. The pact with Mega Media complements the BBC's
existing deal with Pacific Digital Media, which also offers DTH
distribution in Taiwan.
As advertising is the main revenue for the BBC in Asia, Mr Howlett said
the network opts to get as much distribution as possible on the DTH,
cable and hotel platforms as well.
Hotel distribution is essential to BBC World, with the target being
frequent business travellers across the region, according to Mr
Howlett.
"There are so many people travelling in Asia; even in markets where we
have limited distribution, we can still reach a good proportion of our
target audiences," he said.
The BBC moved its advertising team in-house from Star TV last year
because the network wanted to sell its advertising proposition and value
more directly to the clients, said Mr Howlett.
The benefit of having the advertising and marketing team in-house is
that the channel can now handle and understand existing and potential
advertising opportunities more directly and clearly.
In addition to conventional airtime sales, Mr Howlett said the BBC will
offer marketers more integrated marketing packages, combining both
on-the-ground and on-air promotion opportunities.
However, BBC World is not allowed to accept any sponsorship on its
current affairs or news programmes.
With 60 advertisers on board, Mr Howlett said the BBC's advertising
approach focuses on international and regional marketers promoting on
the pan regional media.
Advertisers on board with BBC came mainly from the corporate, financial
institution, automobile, airlines and hotel, telecommunications and
automobile sectors, such as ABB, Airbus, DHL, Diners Club, JP Morgan and
Shell.
With its transmission hub in Singapore, the BBC's key markets in Asia
are Singapore, Hong Kong and Japan, and the channel also has strong
presence in India and Australia.
Positioned as an international news network, BBC Worldwide is pursuing
its global proposition on covering worldwide news and information.
For local news, Mr Howlett said the coverage should be best done by
local broadcasters and the BBC's position is to complement the local
stories with analysis and reporting on a worldwide platform.
Many regional broadcasters are adopting a localised programming strategy
in a bid to attract viewership and local advertisers.
Mr Howlett said BBC has developed certain customisations, such as
Japanese voiceovers and Chinese subtitling, but the level of
localisation is not the same as music and documentary channels.
BBC World now reaches more than 162 million homes in 200 countries with
24-hour broadcasting to nearly 70 million households.
The London-based news network is available to more than 500,000 hotel
rooms and selected airports and it is also airing on British Airways,
Air India, Royal Brunei, Kuwait Airways, Gulf Air, SAS and KLM.
BBC plans to increase business news programming next year.
Mr Howlett pointed out that Asia has a strong business agenda in
addition to general news programming.
